Hiltler And Saddam Hussein History Essay

"Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The lives of Saddam Hussein and Adolph Hitler are tragic not only because of the devastation that these two men caused, but also because it could have been so easily prevented had they both reflected upon the past, seen what they were headed for, and made different choices. Although they ruled in two different time periods and different countries (Hitler: Germany, 1933-1945; Hussein: Iraq, 1980-2003), there are striking similarities between these two men and the way they ran their countries into ruin.

The first likeness lies in their foreign policies. Both men had few allies and disregarded the requests of the leaders of other nations. Once Hitler had risen to power he completely ignored the boundaries that had been set on Germany as a result of the First World War. For example, Germany was forbidden to have submarines or an air force, she could have a navy of only six battleships, and an army of just 100,000 men. In addition, Germany was not allowed to place any troops in their Rhineland, the strip of land, 50 miles wide, next to France. On March 16, 1935 Hitler denounced restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles and resumed the draft - this was the first of all of those precincts to be broken. In complete violation of the treaty, Hitler invaded the Rhineland in 1936, claiming it was Germany's ancient homeland. He later invaded Poland in his quest for natural resources of coal and iron ore to strengthen his military. Germany was still impeded with enormous debt from WWI reparations. Similarly, on Aug. 2, 1990, despite the warnings of countries like England, the United States, and other United Nations members, Iraqi soldiers invaded Kuwait because of ancient claims on a homeland, natural resources (oil), and to escape a financial debt of 30 million dollars owed to Kuwait.

In order to unify their followers, both blamed economic troubles on the nations that opposed them and on certain people groups within their own territory. Hitler gassed the Jews in the largest genocide in history. Blaming minority groups is not new. Examples include Pogroms against Russia's Jews and Islamic Turkey's genocide against Christian Armenians compares with Hussein's gassing of the Kurds. Some comparisons can even be made with the Spanish Inquisition and Hitler's Holocaust.

Religious opposition was met with attempts to have state control over appointed offices. Hitler required all church leaders to sign an allegiance to the Nazi regime or face severe punishment. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one who paid for his refusal with his life as part of the long struggle of the Christian Church in Germany. Hussein's required the submission of the Shiite majority to his secular Baathist branch of the Sunni minority. Those Shiites who rebelled were massacred, as was demonstrated in his advance into Northern Kuwait. Both Hitler and Hussein's claimed to be faithful adherents to their religion, i.e., Christianity and Islam. They twisted scriptures which served their to their own destruction. As for a Biblical response to Hitler, "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book" (Rev.22:18). Hitler prophesied the Third Reich would be a millennium reign - an illusion to the millennium reign prophesied in Revelation chapter 20.

Both leaders lied to the world community to appease them while continuing their military designs. Hitler lied for years about the extent of his military hardware and number of troops, until he eventually came out completely unashamed of the fact that he had violated the international treaty. Hussein, likewise, violated the "no fly zones" imposed after the Gulf War and when accused of having weapons of mass destruction (WMD) Saddam refused to give the adequate information needed to the outside world about this topic. Both men not only violated international treaties, but were unashamed and even proud of the fact that they had duped the world. Prime Minister Chamberlain of England thought appeasement would satisfy Hitler. The United Nations put restrictions on Hussein that were in effect appeasements since they had no consequence for violations. Appeasements are still offered in the War on Terror.

Another similarity was the international response to these men. During Hitler's aggression, other Europeans realized they would need help to stop Germany from taking over different parts of Europe. However, Europe had an extremely hard time convincing America to join their coalition against Germany even though Germany had broken the Versailles Treaty. Isolationist America felt that it shouldn't be in a war that they had very little to do with, and that they should just stay out of Europe's affairs. In fact, it was only after America was attacked at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii by Japanese kamikaze pilots that she decided to join in on the war- thus it became World War II. Interesting comparisons can be made with Kamikaze Pilots and Suicide Bombers, as they brought the USA into war in 1945 and 2001.

During Saddam's aggressive violations of UN resolutions, the United States repeatedly called for international action to enforce the resolutions. However, the U.S. had an extremely hard time convincing Europe's anti-war, pro-Arab community. Finally, one day after the September 11, 2001 attacks by terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, U.S. President George W. Bush challenged the United Nations to swiftly enforce its own resolutions against Iraq. If not, Bush contended, the U.S. would have no choice but to act on its own against Iraq. Eventually, a coalition of a few brave nations gave Hussein a 48-hour deadline to leave Iraq and spare his people, but he refused. On March 20, 2003 bombs dropped on Iraq. Many European countries didn't feel it was their "responsibility" to fight in Iraq and didn't like the fact that President Bush went ahead with it anyway, which is ironic considering the reversing roles from the time of World War II to the time of the Iraqi war. The irrelevancy of the League of Nations and the United Nations had come full circle. Even when Hitler had advanced into neighboring countries, there was controversial responses as some felt it was Germany's right of national self-determination to annex Germans in Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Both of these dictators preached, "fight to death" to their soldiers, which is interesting because neither leader did so themselves. In a display of cowardice, both men went into hiding while their armies continued a losing battle. Once Hitler realized his army had lost and his capture was immanent, he committed suicide on May 1, 1945. Although he took a different route than Hitler, Hussein's way out was just as defeatist. Saddam's hiding place was revealed by two thankful Iraqi's who had received medical assistance from American soldiers even while they were under fire. Saddam was led out of his "spider-hole" on December 13, 2003.

No one has ever disregarded the law of God and not paid a significant price for it (Romans 6:23). World history offers too many examples: Stalin, Pol Pot, Empress Wu and Chairman Mao's Red China compared to Nazi Germany. The world can only hope, and pray, that the future leaders of all countries would learn from the arrogance and lack of love for mankind displayed by Hussein and Hitler. It is certain there will be those who believe they can get away lying, cheating, and murder and not pay a price. It's tragic that the sins of one man can so affect the lives of millions of others.

Christians living under regimes like these take courage from a verse in Ephesians 6:12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places". They believe God's promise that "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world". Indeed, when looking for God to fulfill His promise of Romans 8:28, Christians trust that "all things work together for them that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose." Even though God fearing Jews were slaughtered in Hitler's Holocaust, God worked out His purpose to regather the nation of Israel. Even though Saddam fired missiles at Israel without provocation, God used it to strengthen Israeli defense systems. Yet Saddam continued to channel a gift of $25,000 through Yasser Arafat for each family who sent a suicide bomber to murder Israeli civilians. Hitler used national wealth to murder the Jews. Saddam used national wealth to help Arafat murder the Jews. Not unlike the indoctrination of Spartan youth and Nazi youth, Saddam and Arafat elevated the status of children wearing suicide bombs into national heroes.

Hatred for Jews was the most significant motivation that Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein shared. Thus they followed the pattern of Psalms 2:2-6

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, [saying], Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

These leaders moved against the Jews and were destroyed. What will become of the United Nations whose flag was placed to half mast at the death of Arafat?

Essay: Comparing Hitler and Stalin in their rise to power

During the period leading up to World War II, there were two men who were on opposing sides, the men were Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin. These men were each triumphant in their rise to power in their countries and they were very comparable in the ways that they succeeded. Their success was mostly attributed to their new ideas and their politics.

Although Hitler and Stalin hated each other, the two leaders were similar in many ways. Hitler and Stalin each rose to the highest position attainable in their respective countries, and there were three main reasons that they were able to do this. Both men were skilled users of propaganda, each was amoral, and they both had the ambition to make their countries powerful in the world. Since each was a skilled user of propaganda, they could use their words to twist and manipulate the minds of people into believing that what they were saying was the absolute truth. Using this power, they would get people to do anything for them, which proves their amorality. Since their countries were still trying to recover from World War I, they desired to restore the power back in to their countries. These three reasons will prove that Hitler and Stalin were similar in many ways.

The names Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are synonymous with the word propaganda. In order to understand how Hitler and Stalin used propaganda, an understanding of what the word means, is required. According to Merriam-Webster, "propaganda is the spreading of ideas to further or damage a cause; also the ideas or allegations spread for a purpose". Hitler and Stalin each used propaganda as their tool to further their ideas and help them gain the backing of the people in their countries. The form of propaganda that Hitler used, and was successful in using, was his words. Hitler made many speeches, but the one speech that was a famous one, was his final speech at his trial for treason. In this speech he gave his views and opinions on the events preceding the trial. This is an excerpt from his speech: "â€¦I aimed from the first toâ€¦.become the destroyer of Marxismâ€¦.The army that we are building grows more from day to day, from hour to hour. Gentlemen, not you who will be the ones that deliver the verdict over us, but that verdict will be given by the eternal judgement of history, which will speak out against the accusation that has been made against usâ€¦.That court will judge usâ€¦.as Germans (who) wanted only the best for their people and their Fatherland, who fought and were willing to die. You might just as well find us guilty a thousand times, but the goddess of the eternal court of history will smile and tear up the motions of the states attorney and the judgement of this court: for she finds us not guilty". After Hitler gave this speech, the court was sympathetic towards him, he was sentenced to only five years in prison for his crime. After nine months of his sentence had been served, he received parole. Being able to gain Nazi party control and gain enough supporters, proves that he was an efficient user of propaganda. Hitler also had his own minister of propaganda when he became leader of the country. This proves that Hitler was an user of propaganda, but Joseph Stalin was not as blatantly obvious with his uses of propaganda. Stalin did however use propaganda in his speech to the Fifteenth Congress in 1927. Stalin said in this speech: " Evidently, the opposition prefers to be outside the party. Well, let it be outside the party. There is nothing terrible, or exceptional, or surprising in the fact that they prefer to be outside the party, that they are cutting themselves off from the party. If you study the history of our party, you will find that always, at certain serious turns taken by our party, a certain section of the old leaders fell out of the cart of the Bolshevik party and made room for newer members. A turn is a serious thing, comrades. A turn is dangerous for those who do not sit firmly in the party cart. Not everybody can keep his balance when a turn is made. You turn the cart - and on looking back, you find that someone has fallen out". After Stalin said this, an immediate applause was heard. Stalin was telling people what they wanted to hear and he used this speech to further his cause. This speech helped to further his cause by gaining support from the people, and by justifying why Trotsky was not the choice for leader. Stalin was also demonstrating with this speech that he was the "bandwagon" and that he was taking people in the right direction. Everyone who became a supporter of him, would be getting into the right cart and would be heading in the right direction. At least, what he believed to be the right direction. Hitler and Stalin did not only use spoken propaganda, they were masters of using propaganda, so they would use many forms of it. Another form of propaganda that they used was through photographs. These photographs promoted their "nice" personality. In these photos they would be depicted as being a hero, they would be helping the poor families, or be holding a small child. It was these photos that these men became appealing to the public. These photos give you the idea that they are caring, loving and just completely concerned for the well-being of the people. The use of propaganda was a big contributor to the success of both men.

Since Hitler and Stalin were able to manipulate people with their propaganda, they could convince people of just about anything. This proves them to be amoral. Both would do whatever they thought was necessary to further their cause, with no remorse about what they had done. In 1922 Lenin, the leader of the communist party had a stroke. Overtime his condition got worse and he became less involved in the party's affairs. When Lenin died in January 1924, it left two men in contention for the party's leadership. These two men were Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. The men had opposing ideas on how the party should be run. Stalin was a more aggressive candidate, and therefore had one of his supporters kill Trotsky. This happened after Trotsky was exiled, but while in exile he continued to preach world revolution. Stalin sent one of his agents to kill Trotsky, who was in exile in Mexico. Stalin felt that if he eliminated his only threat, that it would mean less opposition to his ideas. This assured Stalin full control over the communist party. Hitler was the other example of an amoral person. He demonstrated this after he got into power with the holocaust, but he did not foreshadow his amorality much before he got into power. One incidence of his amorality was when he killed all of his opposition. The first major victim of the Nazis was the powerful German Trade Union movement. It was a possible breeding ground for Socialism and Communism, and therefore opposition to Hitler. On May 2, 1933 many Trade Union leaders were arrested and beaten up. Their offices were looted and their funds and property seized. A Nazi-led "labour front" was established to control the workers and ensure the peace in factories and workshops. A week after the destruction of the Trade Unions the Social Democratic Party suffered a similar fate, soon to be followed by the Communists. All of their property, possessions and funds were seized and both parties were banned. The Center Party, which had supported Hitler in return for vague promises, collapsed in July 1933, along with the few others still remaining. After Hitler became Chancellor Hitler passed a law that prohibited there being any other party in Germany other than the Nazis. By doing all of these things it was giving us a glimpse of what he was going to be like when he got into power. These examples show that both Hitler and Stalin were amoral and would do what was necessary to further themselves.

With Hitler and Stalin being such amoral people and willing to do anything, they would do what they could to benefit their countries. Each of their countries had suffered great losses in World War I and were still trying to recover when they came into power. Restoring the power back into their countries was of great importance to both men. After World War I, Russia had 9,150,000 casualties and Germany had 7,142,558 casualties. These losses were immense. Stalin believed that if he forced industrialization upon Russia, that it would help the country to rebuild. Collective farms was another one of Stalin's plans. "Engel's general formula about the destiny of the Socialist state in general cannot be extended to the partial and specific case of the victory of socialism in one country only, a country that is surrounded by a capitalist world, is subject to the menace of foreign military attack, cannot therefore abstract itself from the international situation, and must have at its disposal a well-trained army, well-organized punitive organs, and a strong intelligence service. Consequently, must have its own state, strong enough to defend the conquests of Socialism from foreign attack". This shows that Stalin's aspiration was to make his country strong, and that he had some ideas of how to go about it. Hitler's Germany also had a lot to recover from. "Hitler had plans for Germanic unity and German living space. German unity meant the gathering together of all Germans in Europe, one people into one empire, ruled by one leader. This involved people living in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Memel and other isolated pockets. Germany did not have enough farmland to feed her population of enough raw materials to supply her factories. New lands to the east would then have to be taken over. Hitler intended to destroy the power of France forever. He hoped to take Great Britain into partnership after settling the question of the former German colonies". This demonstrates to us that Hitler aspired to make Germany strong and feared. He wanted to reunite the German people. Hitler and Stalin both succeeded in making their countries strong once again, at least for a while.

In conclusion, Hitler and Stalin were similar in many way in their rise to power, however three reasons stand out the most. They were gifted in the ability to use propaganda and brainwash people, which in turn proves that they were both unethical, and they desired to make their countries better and stronger. Both of these men succeeded in doing all of these things.

Stalin v. Hitler

Stalin and Hitler ruled over regimes considered totalitarian by the definition that they maintained extreme control on political, social, and economic aspects of life in their respective countries with the purpose of pursuing their own ideological ends. Although these two regimes are very similar in many respects they, like red apples and green apples, are clearly in-exchangeable.The Soviet Union, under Stalin, was ruled with an iron fist. Death was the punishment exacted for being useless to the ends of the government. Stalin was the government, and the government was Stalin. Zero factionalism could be expressed, else one would meet death. He maintained complete control over everything. Stalin's goal was to bring Russia up to par with the standards of the western world. In lieu of this ideology, Stalin actively took over the economy. With the express intent of making industry a staple of the economy in Russia, Stalin sold all grain produced by Russia, and injected that money into the industry of the country (at the cost of his people having grain to consume). He then set up Gosplan, a central economic planning agency, whose duty was to create broad goals for all sections of business in Russia. Thus, Gosplan became t

While not maintaining as stringent control over the economy as Stalin, Hitler"tms economy still fits under the definition of totalitarianism because he completely controlled the direction that the economy took. Stalin implemented economic controls as a way to further his ends, while Hitler implemented economic controls as a means to his end - to create war supplies in order to fight for a better Germany. Gosplan determined where one would live and work, and a belief in the ideology that Stalin preached caused citizens to report any insubordination to Stalin and his ideals. Finally, propaganda was employed extensively with the express purpose of blinding the citizens to a reality which might have caused insubordination to Stalin"tms ideology, or even a revolution among the people. Hitler"tms regime was held together through success by the regime and by a common ideology made strong among his followers. The separate ideologies of each leader creates too many differences to make their regimes interchangeable; the ideologies create different types of totalitarianism. This was achieved, dually through the use of propaganda and a secret police organization to terrify and eliminate much of the opposition to the Nazis. The propaganda included pseudoscience reports about the superiority of the Aryan race as well as promises of a better future under the Nazi regime. The KGB, the Russian secret police, were Stalin"tms agent that was responsible for carrying out most of Stalin"tms ordered death in the Soviet Union. A foremost difference that makes the regimes not interchangeable is the fact that Stalin traded his peoples"tm well-being for the advancement of the ideology while Hitler traded opposing people for the advancement of his ideology. The Soviet Union was held together under Stalin because the people had a constant (justifiable) fear of death for being useless to the ends of the government as well as with a belief that the future was bright for the Soviet Union, if they only followed instructions. Hitler brought his followers together under the nationalistic pretense that Aryans were the premier race, that most who were different as well as those currently in power, were the causes for the current economical and political weaknesses of the state at that time, and that a return to a more glorious time in Germany"tms past is the solution for a better life. Through this intense control of the economic and political aspects of life, Stalin, too, controlled the social lives of his people. With this goal accomplished, Hitler used his authoritarian base of control to direct the economy and politics of the country, as he saw fit.

Introduction

Stalin and Hitler

2007

``Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili ' or simply Joseph Stalin who

became a leader has done so many things that are rather inhumane and

these include the following : ``political repression ``persecution and

executions food confiscations which played a large role in the

occurrence of famine and consequently death deportations prisoners

were obliged to work without getting paid for it communists were forced

to take part in the construction of certain infrastructure without

compensation left people to starve to death created economic policies

that led to famine etc (Spartacus , n .d .

On the other hand , Adolf Hitler 's leadership is exhibited by the

following characteristics : murder of opponents genocide of six million

Jewish individuals he suspended the basic rights of the people bombing

of London and Coventry (Spartacus , n .d .

We could go on and on citing the inhumane acts of Joseph Stalin and

Adolf Hitler but it would be of no use since it is extremely apparent

that both did not possess the characteristics of a great leader . That

being said , allow me to reintroduce the characteristics of a great

leader :

A leader should be a very good example a leader should show his or her